Overview of The Black Death

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Across the sands of time, the world has experienced diseases and pestilences; however one stands alone as being the most devastating across the European nation. Imagine an illness that could sweep across Europe, killing one-third of the population and leaving a path of death and economical destruction in its wake; this devastation was known as the Black Death. In this paper the researcher will attempt to divulge how and where the illness began, who was affected, and what ramifications it had on the population, economy, and the ecologic system of the region. The researcher will attempt to divulge what the medical professionals did in order to combat the perilous epidemic known as the Black Death.

We can all agree that the Black Death was one of the worst disasters on record. What many cannot agree on however, is the cause of the Black Death. An Arabic chronicler as-Sulak spoke of Christians who had experienced the Black Death feared it was the end of the world, or simply God’s punishment to mankind (Lerner,R.). Others believed the fault lie in the hands of the Jews who infected the waters and corrupted the air (Sanders, et al., 2006). As a result, thousands of Jews were brutally massacred.

A known fact was that the Black Death, an epidemic of mass proportions infiltrated Europe around 1346 A.D. and no matter who the fault may lay upon, many lives was lost. The plague known as Black Death, derived from the bacterium Yersinia pestis (Sanders, et al., 2006). The bacterium was carried by rodents or rats and the fleas which fed off the rat’s blood. Rats are believed to be the culprit responsible for carrying the disease into Europe and throughout the surrounding areas. This is in fact due to the distinction of rat’s tend...

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...und this is the time that the first nation-states began to ascend throughout Europe.

As a result of the tragedy of the Black Death, the European society was never able to fully recover. The lack of population, social and economic impacts was a testimonial to the effects the Black Death had on Europe. Changes were also visible in the art world at that time. Before the plague hit Europe, tombs were decorated with the likeness of the person being entombed and gave a pleasant appearance to all. After the plague hit many of the tombs depicted death by showing skeletal images of people dressed in ragged clothing and often with worms and bugs crawling out of their orifices. Paintings that once showed natural beauty now showed images of death or the decay of dying people. This type of painting is known as the Danse Macabre, or Dance of Death (Knox, S.).

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